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GT chewing upper arms at alarming rate

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Mathias 
#1 ·
So, it seems my GT is chewing through upper arms at an alarming rate:(. They were (alledgedly) changed before I bought it March last year (TRW). It started clunking over bumps last autumn, and I replaced them again end of March this year (Delphi) when the clunking got unbearable.

I had the car in the air over the weekend replacing front caliper seals, and guess what: the right upper wishbone moves around as I-don't-know-what :mad::mad::mad: seems like bushes going after only 1.5 months/2-3tkm usage!! Haven't started clunking yet, but I guess it's only a matter of time :mad: the left one still seems fine.

I'd rather spend my money towards more rewarding upgrades than upper wishbones, so I would appreciate your input:
1) could there be some other component in the suspension failing, manifesting itself in excess wear on upper arm bushes? I can't find (obvious) play in any other components though.
2) are Delphi upper arms super-poor quality? Searches on here suggest they should be fine, but haven't tried Delphi arms before.
3) Could I have messed up installation somehow? I consider myself quite handy with a spanner, but mistakes happen to everyone. Is there some typical pitfall when installing upper arms? As the upper arms were supposedly changed professionally 1 year/20tkm ago and failed soon after, I'm reluctant to believe this is the case.
4) Should I give up and replace with poly bushes? balljoints should still be as brand new I suppose. Will my ride suffer very much if I go this route? Anyone got suggestions for sellers?

Appreciate your thoughts.
 
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#2 ·
Did you get the car tracked after you changing the suspenson components as you don't mention it? If not then this is the problem. Whenever suspension is taken apart it must be realligned. If left then it will be pulled in all sorts of dirrections and will wear very quickly. not to mention wear your tyres unevenly and produce poor road handling. Also did you do the long bolt up tightly. It is supposed to be pretty tight. I've seen vehicles where this hasn't been done before.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the input Joss. Yes, I got a 4 wheel alignment after changing the arms, but the place wasn't too confidence-inspiring, so wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't done 100% properly. Asked for 0 toe out on the front, but have no means to check the result out myself. Will try out some other place next time.

Tyres were a bit unevenly worn on the inner edge already before, could that have put some extra strain on the bushes? I might have been driving a bit more like a tw*t than usual over the last month, but I'd thought standard suspension was up to at least a bit of abuse. And I'd say the handling has been ok until now, no excessive torquesteer, no sideways pulling when braking, not too bad tramlining, or any other typical signs of poor alignment.

I'm not sure if the long bolt was done up to the correct torque. I have a tendency of overtightening stuff, so I might have left it too loose to overcompensate. On an official torque scale I'd say it is closer to 'manly' than to 'the hulk'. Way over nip-up though. Does that sound about right? :)
 
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